


Deep Space Mall

by Desdemonia



Series: Biweekly Prompt Challenge [3]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ensemble Cast, F/F, Pre-Relationship, Shopping Malls, They All Work in a Mall AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 09:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20043370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desdemonia/pseuds/Desdemonia
Summary: It's Jadzia's first day at her new Job on a mall, and her friend Benjamin invites her to have lunch with his group.





	Deep Space Mall

**Author's Note:**

> It's _exactly_ what it says on the tin: The crew of Deep Space Nine on a Modern AU where they all work in a Mall.
> 
> Big shout out to the whole _you fly, I'll shoot_ discord server.

“Now, Old Man,” Benjamin  _ ‘The Captain’ _ Sisko said, smiling his biggest smile, “Hurry up or you’ll be late to lunch on your  _ first day!” _ he did a little spin and offered his hand to Jadzia Dax, who took it.

It was her first day working on this specific kiosk selling Old Spice, but it was also the  _ fifth  _ Old Spice kiosk she worked at, and she couldn’t make Ben stop calling her Old Man because of it.

They had met, in fact, years ago now, when she had first started working at the Old Spice kiosk back in Luna Mall. Ben was working in a sports store at the time, but he managed to get a Managing position at this current mall, and they hadn't worked on the same place since.

He had been trying to get her to his sports store, United Federation of Sports, but no offer his higher-ups had given had been good enough  _ yet _ . But to be honest, she imagined she would need to accept it sooner or later, with the frequency she managed to get fired from Old Spice. Bless the one place in the world who had five Old Spice Kiosks in a twenty mile radius. And it wasn’t like the Explosion Incident had been her fault! Really!

Ben, as always, had found himself a group. Flocking to his natural charisma, his presence. He had told her about them, a bit: There was the oldest of them Miles O’Brien, who was the Mall Repair Technician, and married to the Florist, Keiko Ishikawa. Then there was Odo, the Mall Cop, very strict fellow, always chasing people for running on the hallways. Besides them, there was also Julian, the nurse of the small Mall infirmary and his maybe boyfriend? Benjamin had not been clear about that, but aside from having a small tailoring shop, Mr. Garak’s description had been nice enough  _ ‘Plain and Simple’, _ Ben had said. Figure what  _ that _ meant. There was Worf, the russian yoga instructor, very serious, always scowling, but she would bet there was a soft and gooey inside. He just had the disposition of someone like that. The brothers, Quark and Rom, who owned a small sports bar, close to where Ben’s store was. 

And lastly, but not least was Kira Nerys, the local manager of the big crafts store on the main promenade. Ben had been trying to set them up on a blind-ish date  _ all week _ , but she wouldn’t fall to his bait again. No siree! Not after the whole Boday Fiasco.

She shook her head out of her brief reverie, Ben was waggling his eyebrows now, his hand still extended, waiting for her, “Oh, alright! Let’s go then!” she said as she took his hand, getting pulled into the busy space of the hallway, pausing only briefly to wave at her colleague at the kiosk.

“So!” Sisko began, as they walked to the food court, “How’s your sister doing?”

Smiling to herself, Jadzia turned to look at Ben, “Well, you know how it is, experiencing the Big feeling of being a young adult,” she laughed, “But you won’t guess  _ where _ she’s going to be working, starting next week,” She only went to the trouble of lifting her eyebrows at Sisko, and it took only a moment for him to catch on.

“Wait just a minute,” He said, smile getting wider, “Are you telling me that Ezri is going to come work at the  _ Mall _ ?!” He almost shouted, so incredulous he was, “Work  _ where?!” _

She just looked at him, grinning broadly, “You know that one  _ under construction _ store on the second floor, close to the parking lot? Apparently it’ll be a counselling clinic, and Ezri managed to get a job there!”

Ben shook his head as they went along, grinning as they took the escalator to the second floor food court, “Incredible. It’ll be good to see Ezri almost every day again, takes me back to when we were still in Luna Mall and she would come into the store every day after school to wait for your shift to end,” smiling he adds, “You should see Jake, he’s-” He stops in front of her, almost making Jadzia crash into him, “-Ah! There they are!”

And there they were indeed. And  _ what _ a group they were. She could see who she would bet was Odo, tall and lanky, leaning forward into a chair occupied by a very short man, wearing a T-Shirt with the bar Quark’s logo emblazoned on its front. Just beside him, someone with the same height and hairstyle, but smiling much more. _ That  _ would be Quark and Rom. To their side, she could see who she assumed was Bashir, wearing a nurse uniform, trying and  _ badly _ failing to not stare at the well appointed gentleman across from him, who she could only assume was Mr. Garak, wearing the fanciest professional attire she had  _ ever  _ seen in a mall.

Sitting beside them, talking to a tablet screen, which she could clearly see was some kind of video call, was a broad man with auburn hair wearing a thick uniform in gray edged in yellow, and a woman wearing overalls, with her sleeves rolled back, exposing a couple of floral-themed tattoos. They were probably Miles and Keiko, respectively, from the descriptions Ben had given her. Just behind them, making faces at the screen was a tall man with a ponytail, and she almost didn’t recognize Worf, if not for the Yoga wear. She could faintly hear giggling from the tablet, a child, she imagined. And lastly: Oh no.

Oh no.

There she was. The most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her entire life. Jadzia felt like she had just been punched in the stomach, all the air leaving her lungs. She knew she was staring, almost open mouthed like a goldfish, but she couldn’t stop it.

And of course that was the exact moment Kira Nerys, for that’s who it had to be, chose to look at her across the space separating them. Jadzia had only time to alter her expression into a shy smile before Ben practically  _ dragged _ her to the tables, “Come on Old Man! Let me introduce you to everyone!”

When they had reached the tables, everyone had seen Sisko, and thus many were waving and saying their greetings, “So! Everyone this is Jadzia Dax, my good friend who’s working at the Old Spice Kiosk, Jadzia this is Everyone!” Ben pointed to the group, who all waved to her, almost all of them trying to introduce themselves at the exact same time.

Smiling, Sisko held his hands up, and the group quieted down, to which he started personally introducing each person: “Jadzia, this lanky fellow here is our local Mall Cop, Odo,” Odo waved, face serious, as if trying to communicate that he’d be no more lenient with her if he ever caught her running on the promenade, “This here, is Quark,” Ben said, with some resignation, to which Quark just waved, with a small smirk in place, “besides him there,” Here Ben pointed to the short, smiley man sitting besides Quark, “Is Rom,” Rom waved, a large smile on his face, “That  _ there _ is Julian Bashir, our nurse, and besides him Mr. Garak,” they both waved, Julian with awkward smile, Garak with the face of someone that had seen her soul and was potting ways to blackmail her, “And over there, they’re talking to their kid, are Miles and Keiko,” They both waved, before turning their attention back to the screen, “and right behind them is Worf, the yoga instructor,” Worf only nodded once, before going back to make faces at the camera, to the delight of the child, if the giggles were any indication.

“And this,” Ben said, taking her attention to the last person he had left to introduce, “This is Kira Nerys, she works at the  _ The Kai Supplies _ , right down from your kiosk Old Man,” Kira’s eyebrows raised at the nickname, making Jadzia blush.

“Old Man?” She asked, clearly skeptical with Sisko’s nicknaming conventions.

Jadzia took a deep breath, ready to start explaining the origin of the nickname a full blush forming on her face when Ben interrupted and started to give  _ his _ explanation for it, “You see, this is Jadzia’s  _ fifth _ time working on an Old Spice Kiosk,”  _ ‘Kill me now’ _ , she thought.

“Now now, Mr. Captain, let’s not get ahead of ourselves! I was never fired for doing anything  _ wrong, _ they couldn’t ever  _ prove _ any of the incidents had been my fault! Besides, the first time it was all  _ your _ fault! If you hadn’t been trying to learn zippo tricks to impress Jake close to the customer trying on products there wouldn’t have been an explosion at all!” She says,only to realize that everyone is staring at her in open-mouthed incredulity, before Kira lets loose a muffled giggle, quickly trying to cover her mouth before giving up and promptly bending over, cackling, initiating a cascade reaction that has everyone laughing. Even Odo, and Worf, who looked so serious are chuckling.

Jadzia feels a hand on knee as the laughter is dying down, and when she looks up she is face to face with Kira, her eyes warm, her smile soft, “You’ll right in, here Jadzia,” the way she peaks Jadzia’s name makes her heart thrum against her ribcage, she starts to smile back, and looking Kira in her eyes she speaks before she has even time to think:

“Yeah, I think I'll  _ love _ it here.”


End file.
